An assembly of a reticle and a reticle is generally known from the art. The reticle of the known assembly may, for example, be suitable and arranged for use in a lithographic process, carried out by a lithographic apparatus, to manufacture devices. In the known assembly, the reticle holder may be arranged to hold the reticle using a clamping device. In particular, the known reticle holder may be a storage box for storing and transporting the reticle. In certain cases, the reticle may need to be aligned accurately with respect to the reticle holder before the assembly may be used in a manufacturing process. Usually, such alignment is carried out by a reticle prealigner.
A problem of the known assembly is that it is relatively difficult to maintain the reticle in a certain desired, for example, aligned, position with respect to the reticle holder when being held thereby. As a consequence, the reticle may shift under the influence of vibrations and/or acceleration during transport of the assembly, which may lead to misalignment of the reticle. Such undesired reticle movement may lead to undesired particle generation due to friction between the reticle and the reticle holder. Such particles may impair processes making use of the reticle, for example, vacuum processes and/or lithographic processes, in which the processes require substantially contamination-free process environments. In the known reticle holder, movement of the reticle is prevented by using relatively large clamping or friction forces. However, such forces lead to a high contact stress, which may damage the reticle and/or reticle holder.